Building element



Feb. 19, 1935. F. BAUER BUILDING ELEMENT 2' Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 10, 1951 .7): van [or 2 Bauer Feb. 19, 1935. F. BAUER BUILDING ELEMENT Filed July 10, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 .71: vent al-.-

Patented Feb. 19,. 1935 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE In Germany 7 Claims.

My invention relates to building elements which are adapted to be inserted between girders, such as stones for ceilings.

It is an object of my invention to provide an improved building element .of the kind referred More particularly it is an object of my invention to provide a building element which combines strength, lightness and ready laying facilities. To this end I equip a hollow element with an upper and a lower arch at opposite sides of its cavity, and insert webs between the arches.

In a preferred embodiment of this hollow element the upper face of the upper and the lower face of the lower arch are made flat to serve, respectively, as floor slabs and as faces for the reception of ceiling plaster.

It is another object of my invention to so design an element that the elements of the complete structure exert a vault-like action. To this end I arrange the sides of the elements which may be hollow or solid in upwardly diverging relation to each other. Preferably the elements are equipped with a shoulder below their converging sides which bears on the flange of the corresponding girder.

It is still another object of my invention to so design hollow or solid elements that their laying is facilitated. To this end I provide only one side of the element with a shoulder for bearing on the flange of the corresponding girder as described while its opposite side is provided with a recess, and a jib is inserted between this recess and the flange of the corresponding girder. The pitch from the inner end of the shoulder to the opposite side of the stone in which the recess for the reception of the jib is formed, must be such that the stone can be swung in between the flanges of the girder in horizontal position, and the jib must be so thick that it will bear on the flange after having been inserted in the recess of the element.

It is still another object of my invention to anchor the hollow or solid elements in the longitudinal direction of the girders. To this end I step the sides of the elements and arrange the steps eccentrically with respect to the central transverse plane of the elements so that if the elements are placed at degrees to each other the steps are staggered and a sort of rack is formed along the girders which when fllled in with concrete or other plastic substance, anchors the elements in the longitudinal direction of the girders.

It is still another object of my invention to pro- July 18, 1930 vide a hollow building element, with or without any or all of the features recited above, having sound-deadening properties. To this end I provide walls at one end of its cavity or cavities which preferably extend so far across the cham- 5 bers partitioned from the cavity by thewebs that they overlap in two adjacent elements an the cavities are closed by the end walls.

By way of example a hollow stone for ceilings will be shown and described but it is understood 10 that I am not limited to this particular adaptation of my element, and that in particular I am not limited to hollow or to solid elements.

My element may be made of concrete, brick, or any other suitable material and may be used 5 in combination with girders of any suitable type, for instance, steel or reinforced concrete girders.

It is particularly suitable for ceilings in which the girders are pitched comparatively far apart without boarding or casing. The elements, par- 20 ticularly if hollow, combine lightness, great bearing capacity and ready laying facility.

In the hollow element referred to in which two arches are combined and connected by webs which merge into the arches with slightly rounded portions, I obtain the advantage that the element as laid and before the filling-in with concrete or other material, may be relied on to stand the temporary loads of persons or objects. The bearing capacity of the novel element is a multiple of the capacity of an element having a single arch only, and the somewhat greater weight and the quite insignificantly'greater consumption of material are altogether negligible as compared with the so much greater bearing 35 capacity of the novel element. As mentioned, the arches are preferably equipped with flat upper and lower faces, for the purpose specified.

In the drawings afiixed to this specification and forming part thereof various types of ele- 4o ments embodying my invention are illustrated diagrammatically by way of example.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective, and partly sectional, illustration of two girders of reinforced concrete, with elements having shoulders at both sides and three webs in their cavities,

Fig. 2 is an illustration of a similar element having two webs only,

Fig. 3 illustrates an element having a shoul- 50 der at one side only and a recess for the reception of a jib at the opposite side,

Fig. 4 shows one of the elements with its jib extracted,

Fi 5 is a plan view of two irdsrs with alements anchored by the rack-like arrangement of their stepped sides referred to,

6 is an end elevation of an element having sound-deadening end walls extending partly across its cavities,

Fig. 'l is a perspective illustration of the element shown in Fig. 6, viewed from the rear in that fll 8nd Fig.8isasectionon the line VIII-VIII in Fla. 8.

Referring now to the drawings, in all figures except Fig. '1, m are the elements and n and e are two of the girders of the ceiling, the girders being of reinforced concrete in Figs. 1, 2, 5, 8 and 8, and of I-section steel in Figs. 3 and 4. The sides of the elements are stepped as shown at d in Fig. 1, arranged in upwardly diverging relation to each other and shouldered at the base at o, it being understood that the elements illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 have the shoulder 0 at one side only. The elements illustrated in Figs. 1-5 have two steps in their sides while the elements illustrated in Figs. 6-8 have a single step only. The steps may be undercut as shown.

Each element has an upper arch a above, and a lower arch b below, its cavity these arches forming part of a convex top and a concave bottom plate. In the preferred form these plates are plane-concave and plane-convex, respectively, the concave and convex portions facing each other. The arches may be circular or curved to any other suitable curvature. c are webs extending from the upper to the lower arch through the cavity of the element, three webs being shown in Fig. 1, and two webs in the other figures. The upper and lower faces of the elements are flat. The upper and lower bordering lines of the chambers partitioned from the cavities by the webs 0 may be curved in conformity with the arches a and b, respectively, or they may be straight as shown for the central cavity in Figs. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, the elements are placed on the flanges of the concrete girders n and e with their two shoulders o, and the spaces between the diverging sides of the elements and the sides of the girders are filled in with concrete or other material 1. The diverging sides of the elements exert a wedge action with the girders which as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 6 may have their sides extending in parallel to the sides of the elements and in this manner a very strong and vibrationless ceiling structure is obtained.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 4, a shoulder o is here provided only at the side of the element which faces the girder e while g is a recess in the opposite side of the element with its faces convergingtoward the centre of the element, and i is a jib adapted to be inserted in the recess between the element and the lower flange of the girder n. The edges constituting the recess a, must be pitched from the apex of the shoulder o for a distance which is equal to, or less than, the clearance between the lower flanges of the girders n and e as shown for the upper edge h of the recess so that the elements m are placed on the lower flange of the girder e with their shoulders 0, as shown in Fig. 4, in downwardly inclined position, turned about the shoulder into horizontalposition, as shown in Fig. 3, and supported on the lower flange of the girder n by the jib i. The jib need not be as deep as the element itself as any cavities are filled in with the material I. The jib, however, aflords a support which will Referring now to Fig. 5, the sides of theelements, with their steps d, are arranged eccentrically to their central transverse plane p, p so that the edges q and r of their fiat upper faces are not equi-distant from the central plane 9. P and therefore by placing each element m at degrees to the adjacent elements, the edges q and 1' will form a broken line resembling a rack, and a very strong connection is formed by filling in the spaces between the elements and the girders, The structure constitutes a raft with the filler j and therefore it is not necessary to reinforce the structure by an additional layer of concrete above the girders of the elements.

Referring now to Figs. 6-8, the elements m are designed substantially like those illustrated in Fig. 3, with two webs 0 between their upper and lower arches a, b but the cavities between the webs are partly closed by end walls is projecting slightly beyond the centre of each cavity so that if the elements are arranged as shown in Fig; 8 the end walls It overlap and close the cavities at the ends of each pair of elements so that sound is effectively deadened. Obviously the weight of the elements is increased by the end walls is but it is practicable, notwithstanding this increase, to keep the weight of the elements within such limits that they are readily handled and laid in situ.

The amount of material required, and the overall weight of the elements, as compared with partitions of the usual type, have been reduced for about 50 per cent. This is due to the fact that it is not at all required to provide a complete end wall on each element but that the same result is achieved by providing end walls extending only to substantially the centre of the cavities between the webs c. As will appear from Fig. 8, the end walls of the several elements make up complete closures if the elements are arranged in adjacent position, with the elements in each pair abutting with their plain ends so that the end walls of their opposite ends are overlapped by those of the adjacent pairs of elements.

It is not necessary that all the end walls in a given element should extend in the same direction as shown for the walls It, but obviously it is necessary that they must be so arranged as to make up a closure as shown in Fig. 8 if two elements are abutted. Preferably all elements are made identical so that only a single mold, or set of molds, is required.

- As mentioned, the several features of my novel elements need not be combined with a hollow element as illustrated by way of example. Thus, the inclined sides, the shoulders 0 or the recess a for the jib i and the staggering of the upper edges q, r (Fig. 5) might be provided in solid elements while the end walls In, Figs. 6, 7 and 8, might be provided in hollow elements without the inclined and stepped side walls, the arches a and b, and the shoulders o as shown.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire quently make claim to any modification not covered by these claims is expressly reserved.

I claim:

1. A hollow building element having an upper and a lower arch at opposite sides of its cavity, webs extending through said cavity between the arches, a shoulder at one side adapted to bear on the flange of a girder, a recess in the opposite side, the opposite side being so shaped that said element can be placed between the girders while rocking about said shoulder, and a jib adapted to be inserted in said recess and to bearon the lower flange of said girder.

2. A hollow building element having an upper arch and a segment-like lower arch extending substantially in parallel at opposite sides of its cavity, a fiat face at the lower side of said segment-like lower arch, and webs extending substantially in parallel through the cavity and connecting the inner faces of said arches.

3. A hollow building element having an upper arch and a segment-like lower arch at opposite sides of its cavity, a flat face at the lower side of said segment-like lower arch, webs extending through the cavity and connecting the inner faces of said arches, and a plurality of upwardly converging faces at either side of said element arranged like arches.

4. A hollow building element having wedgeshaped pr jections extending along its sides which projections are arranged eccentrically with respect to the central vertical plane of the element.

5. A hollow building element having a longitudinal web extending through its cavity, and an end wall at one end of said web extending across a portion of the cavity.

6. A hollow building element comprising combination, a concave top and a convex bottom plate arranged in spaced relation with their curved faces extending substantially in parallel, and at least two webs extending through the intervening space substantially in parallel and connecting the curved faces of said plates.

'1. A hollow building element comprising in combination, a plane-concave top and a planeconvex bottom plate arranged in spaced relation with their curved faces extending substantially in parallel, and at least two webs extending through the intervening space substantially at right angles to the plane portions of and connecting the curved faces of said plates.

FRITZ BAUER. 

